The invention resides in a brake- and/or clamping device of a shaft supported in an apparatus housing, or a device housing, with a brake disc firmly supported at or on the shaft for rotation therewith, wherein the brake disc comprises a friction area including at least a truncated cone-shaped friction surface and at least one brake cone which is arranged in the device housing and which abuts the friction surface during braking or clamping.
Such a device is disclosed as a cone brake in DE 602 397 C. But this device includes a brake disc which has an inherently rigid intermediate area. U.S. Pat. No. 2,771,977 discloses a cone clutch with only one friction surface pairing.
It is the object of the present invention to provide a brakeand/or clamping device for rotating shafts which has large clamping forces and short reaction times, is of a simple spacesaving design and is furthermore durable and requires no servicing. Also, the rotating parts of the device should affect the acceleration behavior of the shaft to be braked or clamped as little as possible during normal operation when it is not braked.